I Ask: Is a Llama a Better Pet than a Dog?

My blogging buddy Alex at Late Enough has a page on her blog called I Ask. Instead of touting she has all the answers, Alex poses a question and the readers give her advice. Some of her recent questions were:

Do you believe in aliens?

How do I bake cookies?

Would you turn in the library porn watcher?

What makes you want to stab your eyes out?

I should have stolen this idea from Alex long ago. It would have been better to follow her lead with I Ask instead of agreeing and participating in a TV Challenge with her for a month during baseball season. So, with the latest decision I have to make, I thought it would be fun to get some reader input.

My daughter's first choice for breed: Wheaton Terrier

My kids want a dog.

They have wanted a dog for awhile now and I have put this off, knowing the responsibility required and who would be the primary caretaker. I told my kids that until I got through the divorce process with their dad, I really could not even contemplate adding to our family. Well, the negotiations were completed and the kids know this. And now they expect a dog. Of course they do. I promised them a dog!

But I want new carpet.

The kids have been patiently waiting for a dog and I have been patiently waiting to tackle my home improvement list. Until the negotiations were completed and signed, I didn’t want to work on any home improvement projects. Now I want new carpet.

New dog + new carpet= disaster

I am careful to not make promises to the kids that I can’t keep so I know a dog is in our near future. However, if I can find a pet that is more exciting to my kids than a dog, I might be able to satisfy the pet request and have new, clean carpet. I have already tried to convince Princess Daisy that a llama would be a better pet than a dog. I have not given up on the idea, but so far there is not an interest in a llama.

Justin~ A friend took me for a drive in the country recently and we passed a bunch of llamas. I screeched, made him pull over, and snapped away. They are adorable, but nasty. They were spitting on each other! Are llamas a lot of work? My son would love the spitting. He would think it was cool.

Get the dog first. Once s/he has adjusted (3-6 months), get the carpet.

Think about how awesome you’ll look on Christmas… if you celebrate it. Or if you don’t celebrate and still give them the dog on the 25th, you’ll look way cooler than most of the celebrating Christmas-ers.

All kids need a pet, some of my best memories are playing with my dog growing up. I have always wanted that perfect house that everything is in place and picture perfect at all times. Then I had kids and thought, someday…over the years we have adopted three dogs and a cat who all live under the same roof with my three kids and husband. I don’t have a picture perfect house and probably never will. But all my kid’s friends love to come over and play with the animals, my poor cat has been tucked into the doll’s bed more times than she would like, and the dogs have had a few mani/pedis. This is what my kids will remember, not that our house was pretty and we had new carpet, but all the fun they had with their friends and pets.

PS…I would strongly suggest you rescue a dog, we’ve lucked out with all of our shelter animals. That’s just my ‘save the homeless animals’ pitch!! Good luck and let us know what you decide!

Pop culture always has influence over our kids. If they are younger Carl in the Jimmy Neutron cartoons is always waxing poetic about llamas and it is hilarious. He goes on and on about how cool llamas are. The Emperor’s New Groove is cute too and he gets turned into a llama and has to be one throughout most of the movie.

IF they are older or tweens they might like Napoleon Dynamite in which he is always going outside and feeding the llama whatever he has in the fridge. It isn’t as blatant a reference but it is still kind of funny. Also Homer Simpson says “Como se LLAMA” instead of the way it is supposed to be pronounced. HA!

There are also many more cool things about llamas – Monty Python’s Flying Circus referenced them alot, llamas with hats is absolutely HILARIOUS and popular on youtube right now but you should watch before letting your kids watch! – that alone might be enough to make them want one, the llama song is cute too.

IF nothing else – YOU should check out the llamas with hats ha. IF you have older kids and they watch it they are going to want a llama named carl. LMAO

If your kids are going to help be responsible for the dog, I say go for it. They will be thrilled. Once your doggie is used to your home and all wee wee trained and all that, you can probably get the carpet. A smaller dog and one that doesn’t shed as much wouldn’t be as hard on your interiors. Schnauzers make good pets.The Sweetest recently posted..This One Speaks For Itself

Well let’s see… Llamas is nasty, with the spitting that’s been mentioned by more than one commenter here. Dogs have to be walked, and are not known for their exceedingly good potty training.

Have you considered a house bunny? They can be litter trained (I suggest getting one that already has been trained) and are very intelligent. More importantly they can be very self sufficient (I’m all about pets that can take care of themselves, cause no matter how much they promise I know my kids aren’t going to take care of them). I’m not sure where you’re located, but http://www.rabbit.org/ has an adoption link that points to a lot of places where you can adopt a bunny.

Not sure if a bunny is more exciting than a llama or a dog, but certainly less maintenance!

A bunny is a good idea, but I love that the llama is an outside pet. There are no house issues at all with llamas. And, if trained properly, maybe I can get the llamas to spit on command to keep annoying people away. Just a thought, but I will definitely look into the bunny idea.

I’m also SURE that elephant dung would make excelent compost for your garden. I was just reading about selling rabbit compost to rose gardeners. If you can sell the little bit that comes out of rabbits, you could be an elephant dung millionaire!